In Part II of the Meet the Owners, we learn about what prompted their energy goals, what they like about Little Compton, and how they picked their design and buildteam:
Tell us about your energy goals and what is prompting them:
We are very excited about the plans for the home, the team we’re working with, and–as much as anything — the low energy goals of the project. When we had four kids, we were soberly aware that we were now a large family with a dangerously large energy footprint. We’ve tried our best to minimize our impact on the environment — but we’ve been limited to some extent by our technology (for instance, we live in a colonial home with old windows and construction). Our new home, however, will use the newest technology to meet the most rigorous Passive House standards. Thus, with our home, we will not only have a sanctuary, but will live closer to our ideal of having a lighter impact on the environment. Our four children are especially pleased — they are each very aware of the consequences of global warming and feel very responsible toward preserving the world they inhabit. By building a modest, high performance, sustainable home on every level, we are hoping that we are creating a sanctuary that can remain in our family for generations to come–and in our own small way, contributing to a planet that can remain for generations to come.
How did you select Little Compton?
Little Compton is just over an hour from our house, and we look forward to going there often, for weekends and longer stays when we can, to commune as a family. The land we purchased is up a hill, removed from the more expensive real estate, bordered by 170 acres of protected farm land. It is perfect for us since the house will be built with proximity to fields, farms, salt ponds, marshes, beaches, and the ocean. We look forward to the opportunity to leave our busy lives behind and go to a cozy retreat, from which we can explore nature, or in which we can simply cook and read, watch movies together and play board games. Cell service is not great there, so we look forward to the lack of texting and phone chatting! This will be a place where we can go back in time, in a sense, to before there were so many mediums for staying in touch with others and the world at large–a place where we can just BE (instead of DO).
How did you decide to work with ZeroEnergy Design and Aedi?
We originally researched pre-fab “green houses.” — specifically the WEE Homes. When we did a little more research, though, and consulted with our friend Bruce Irving, the former Executive Producer of This Old House, he cautioned us that pre-fab homes came with them many hidden costs, required expensive shipping as well as a big access path that our property didn’t have. He suggested that we contact the team at Zero Energy Design whom he had seen at a competition in Washington, DC (where they took 2nd place at the Dept. of Energy Solar Decathlon). Bruce told us that the Zero Energy people were young, smart, passionate about sustainable construction, and very practical about getting things done efficiently and according to plan. Wow! They sounded too good to be true! They were just who we were looking for. We met them, we liked them, shared a vision, and we agreed to move forward with our design. Through ZED, we teamed up with Matt Ayers at Aedi construction to do the building. Everything that Bruce had said about ZED, ZED said about Matt–again, sounded to good to be true, and again, turned out to be true!
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